


Broken Carapace

by 404UnknownUser



Category: Andromeda Six (Visual Novel)
Genre: Angst, Friends to Enemies, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Not to Lovers, yet - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24287152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/404UnknownUser/pseuds/404UnknownUser
Summary: “I never saw any member of your goddamn family lift a finger to change it.”...White hot anger flooded their system, and whatever June had been saying was cut off by their next words.“Howdareyou.”ORMy interpretation of how my Traveler, Ashe, would respond to June's actions at the end of chapter 3 - The short answer being, not well.
Relationships: Juniper Nyux & Traveler
Comments: 1
Kudos: 40





	Broken Carapace

**Author's Note:**

> The Traveler being used here is my main one: Ashe Dumont (Peg'asi) who uses they/them pronouns. And despite sharing my name, they are not a self insert - though it made for quite the surprise going back in game after going by Ashe and seeing that on the screen.

To say that Ashe and June had been walking on eggshells around one another would be like saying Calderon was a bit wary of them when they woke up - a gross understatement. Since their last conversation - if it could even be called that - June refused to be on the same floor as Ashe, let alone in the same room.

Days spent looking for a clue of who they could be, and when they finally found their answers all they wanted to do was go back. Back to when they were just Ashe the amnesiac, a stowaway who needed to prove their worth or be left behind. Before they were Ashe Peg’asi, technical heir to the throne who was thought to have been - supposed to have been - killed with the rest of their family.

They knew the revelation would rock their newly budding relationships, but was it truly so naive of them to think their actions since waking up would count for something? Despite the continuous stream of new memories, they couldn’t help but notice how eerily similar Aya’s timing for checking in was to Vexx’s when he’d wake them up for their morning ‘obligations’ back home. Nor did they miss that slight edge to Bash’s tone, the words still as genuine and kind as always, but no longer coming out quite as easily. And it was impossible to deny how June wouldn’t even look them in the eye, nevermind the way he’d practically spat their former title. _Your Highness_ never sounded so much like a curse and it made any retort they may have had turn to ash on their tongue.

June had been Ashe’s first friend on the ship, perhaps their second friend ever if their memories are to be believed. The one who convinced Calderon to take them on in the first place, who helped them remember their own name - and now it felt like no one regretted the decision more than the man himself. As far as Ashe could tell, _Damon_ had more respect for them, and he’d been ready to pass them off to the man who’d slaughtered their kin for a bounty. It stung - more than it should have considering they’d met the crew but days ago, yet with each hour the poison of it festered more.

Ashe may be sheltered, but they weren’t so blind to think that they could pick up where they left off, not after they saw the expression on his face - on everyone’s faces - when they revealed the truth. Even when he’d joined the others in glaring at Damon for suggesting turning them in to Zovack, it felt more like an excuse not to look at them than anything else. But they didn’t expect it to go this far; didn’t expect his words and their own to echo between their ears long after their confrontation had ended.

 _“I never saw any member of your goddamn family lift a finger to change it.”_ For all the things Ashe had heard about her family, before and after they woke up, those words were the ones that hit them like a blow. Their father was a bastard, one who even Ashe would admit needed to taken out of power, but to say that the rest of their family sat idly by, that they were so willingly ignorant that they’d not even try to stop him, and that they deserved to die for it? As though Nerissa didn’t spend her life trying to change things, that she wasn’t ready and willing to take a blood soaked throne, face the backlash of everything King Fenris had done, hoping to make things better. A memory of hearing Nerissa’s sobs through the door after another failed counsel meeting came to mind and what ever was keeping their tongue tied snapped in response. White hot anger flooded their system, and whatever June had been saying was cut off by their next words.

“How _dare_ you.”

Something old came back in their voice, jagged and harsh as a flood of new memories came back at once. Their eyes met his for the first time, and they refused to break his gaze as they spoke.

“How dare you presume we did nothing. Do you think that the monster my father was simply faded away amongst family? That he showered us with lavish gifts so that we might keep quiet and live in blissful ignorance? Or did you truly think us all so cruel that we laughed over the bodies of those killed by his actions? Drinking wine and toasting to the most recent planet destroyed by his greed?”

“Ashe-”

“Don’t ‘Ashe’ me, June, you’re going to listen.” June winced as they used his own words against him.

Their voice didn’t sound like it should. Or maybe it did, ringing with an authority that only a royal could have, even one who should have never been within reach of the throne. Either way it was enough for June to snap his mouth shut as they took a step towards him. They forced him to meet their gaze again, burning with anger that can only come from the loss of something dear, and spoke again.

“Answer me this, _Junebug_.” The once affectionate nickname was spat more than stated but they continued on. “Who would you have stand up to him? The younger siblings and I? I can tell you we tried, but I suppose it must have been hard for him to hear us. After all, the wings we were kept in our entire lives were on the other side of the castle from his council chambers, and Daddy Dearest wasn’t much one for visiting.” Their lips twisted into a rueful smile, too sharp at the edges even softened by sadness. Their next words would have been melancholy had it not been for the acerbic tone. “At some point, we lost hope, gave up. It happened differently for all of us, but it always happened eventually. I was the last one to break, lasted longer than most, but they all knew it was a matter of time. 10 plus years of emotional neglect will do that I suppose.” Snapping out of their reprieve, they clenched a their hands in their pockets and met his gaze again. They took another step forward, June meeting it with his own step back. “Besides, why would he listen to me? I was the tenth in a line of backup plans - the only thing of value I could say was ‘I do’ to whatever bloodthirsty noble offered the biggest dowry.

“Or perhaps you’d have my mother speak up? After all she’s the Lunar Queen, she must have some say, no? Perhaps she did have it once, but that was before she grew so oppressed and isolated in her own home that she stopped speaking all together. It’s a shame, the solare she refused to leave for the last years of her life had much thinner walls, perhaps Father would have had a harder time ignoring her than he usually did.” The laugh they let out was bitter and hollow, much like their mother’s had been when she could still bring herself to smile. One more step forward, and one half step back as June’s back met the wall. Ashe made no move to put their hands on him, simply keeping hold of his gaze as they finished through gritted teeth,

“And I’m sure you think Nerissa should have done more. As though she didn’t spend her life _begging_ our father to stop. Like she wasn’t ready to take his bloodsoaked throne, and all of the disgust, hatred, and calls for vengeance that came with it, just so she might have the chance make things better.” Had the gloves not been military-issued, they’d have likely been torn though with how tightly their fists were clenched. Despite June having almost seven inches on them, Ashe had no issue staring him down as they practically growled their last words.

“Say what you will about my father, the counsels, even me, but you will _not_ treat her as a compliant accomplice - not when you’ve never heard her sobbing after counsel meetings, blaming _herself_ for another city’s destruction at my father’s hands. She took on _every_ moral burden that my father refused to carry. Blamed herself for _every_ death on his orders because _she_ hadn’t done enough to convince him it was unnecessary. She’d have done _anything_ to help her people, to be good to them. But she never got the chance. And now she never will, because she and everyone else in my family are dead by Zovack’s hand, and people like _you_ are celebrating it.”

…

Ashe wasn’t sure when they’d started crying, but they were suddenly acutely aware of the path their tears took down their cheeks, to their jaw, then down their neck, and it was enough to snap them out of their rage. June looked struck as though they’d slapped him, and the rational part of their brain knew that at least some of the crew likely heard them as well.

So be it.

Stepping away from June, but not missing the way he remained where they’d backed him against the wall, they sighed through their nose and turned around. They needed to get away from him, from all of them really. Everything hurt and they can’t break, not yet. Glancing over their shoulder to where he still stood stunned against the wall, their expression hardened as they let an old mask slip into place, one their mother taught them when she still had words to say- “Do not give them the pleasure of your suffering.” It had been as though they’d never cried at all, the only evidence being an unwiped tear slipping down their neck to their collarbone, a sliver of feeling on their cooled skin.

“Coming to see you was a mistake. I won’t make it again.”

**Author's Note:**

> First A6 fic in the bag! I love June with all my heart but that scene was not easy to read. He just took a huge hit to Ashe's view of him thanks to his actions
> 
> If you liked this, let me know in the comments, kudos are always wonderful to see, and check out my other socials:  
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> 
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